


Golden Rings

by Zetal (Rodinia)



Series: Weekend Writing Marathon Flash Fiction [2]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: AU, Family Drama, Family Secrets, Multi, Posthumous Confessions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-17
Updated: 2017-01-17
Packaged: 2018-09-18 03:35:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,354
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9366293
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rodinia/pseuds/Zetal
Summary: After the death of the uncle she'd been taking care of for the past four years, Elizabeth discovers the answer to one family scandal and a long-buried family secret.Note: major character death is tagged because this is set in the aftermath of death.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Weekend Writing Marathon's Flash Fiction Tuesday.
> 
> Prompt: You were going through the attic after one of your distant uncle’s died when you found it, the sole occupant of a dust covered box. It went missing when you were a child. Your uncle (great uncle twice removed, you think) was the last person you thought would have it.
> 
> Tell us the story behind what was found and what happens next.
> 
> Also written for SPN Poly Ship Bingo. Square: Cas/Benny/Meg

It had been quite the family drama. When great-grandpa Castiel died, no one could find his wedding ring, not even his widow. Great-grandma Meg didn’t seem too bothered by the missing ring. When she died six weeks later, her ring was missing, too. Elizabeth was only seven years old then, but she never forget the shouting and the accusations as various family members brought up other slights and grievances to accuse others of stealing the rings. Great-aunt Ruby was accused of stealing them to sell to finance her extragavant plastic surgeries. Uncle Crowley was accused just for being a bastard. Grandma Anna was accused because everyone knew she wasn’t trustworthy after she ran away that one time and only came back to save Castiel’s life. The mystery was never solved to anyone’s satisfaction.

When Elizabeth was eighteen, Uncle Benny called her up. No one was quite sure how Uncle Benny was related to anyone in the family, but everyone loved him. “I’m old, dear, and I’m getting to the point where I’m not sure I can manage alone. Your mama tells me you’re going to Tulane this fall?”

“Yes, Uncle Benny.”

“College is so expensive these days. I got no kids of my own to save up my money for. How would you feel about taking care of your old uncle in exchange for tuition, room, and board? Four years of college or until I get so fragile you can’t manage it on your own and I gotta be put in a home somewhere.”

“That sounds great, Uncle Benny. Thank you!”

As Elizabeth walked the halls of Benny’s house, she couldn’t help smiling through the tears. She’d graduated from Tulane at the end of May, and Benny died the first week of June. He’d been weak, but he’d promised Elizabeth he’d hold on until she was ready to move on and start the next stage of her life. She’d been declared the sole executor of his will, and to her surprise, his only heir. She hadn’t known just how well-off Benny was until the lawyers told her.

She’d taken it upon herself to start going through things, looking for family heirlooms that others might want or things that should be sold or thrown away. One day, as she was up in the attic, she came across a dusty box sitting on top of a stack of books. Curious, she opened the box and dropped it in shock. Castiel and Meg’s rings were in there, tied to a third ring with a white satin ribbon.

Most of the letters looked old, but there was one right on top that looked relatively fresh. She picked that up. It was in Benny’s old-fashioned handwriting, shaky from the tremors that had plagued him in the last few years of his life.

_My Lizzie,_

_I know you’ve always wondered what happened to the rings. Don’t go thinkin’ ill of your old uncle just yet, not until you’ve read through everything and you know the whole truth._

_Castiel and I met during the war. He and a friend of his were trapped behind enemy lines, and I just happened to be in position to get them back. Took a bit longer than I’d expected, but the three of us became fast friends._

_When the war was over, Dean had a brother and a girl to get home to. Cas and me, we were alone in the world, so we decided we’d find our post-war life together. I know it ain’t no big deal these days, but cher, back then you didn’t fall in love with another man. If you did, you didn’t advertise it. You kept it discreet. For a while, no one cared about two soldiers choosing to live together while they adjusted to being home, but after a while the whispers would start. They always did._

_We’d both go out to the dance halls, the movies, all the things you did back then to meet girls. Cas was so scared to tell me when he realized he was falling for Meg too. He tried to hide it, but the more he tried the weirder everything got. I wasn’t stupid, I had eyes, I knew there was someone else. Didn’t mind it being a girl at all._

_I asked Meg to go to the lake with me, and sitting on the tailgate of my old truck, I told her everything about Cas and me. To be honest I’d expected her to get mad and break up with Cas, or to tell Cas he had to break up with me. Instead, when we got back from the lake, she informed Castiel that he was marrying her so that she could move in with us without anyone judging._

_Lizzie, I didn’t just pick you because you were going to Tulane. You’re my great-granddaughter, not Castiel’s. Later on, when the tech made it possible, we got a test to confirm it, but we’d known from the moment we saw that red hair growing in that Anna was mine. To avoid scandal, we never said anything to anyone. Anna never knew, so she couldn’t have told your daddy or you. I don’t want you to change how you think of me, or of Cas, but now that there’s no one left alive to hurt, thought you ought to know._

_When Cas realized he was dying, he and Meg gave me their rings. I’d never been able to wear mine openly, but I had one too. Do your uncle one last favor. Tell whoever you want that you’ve found the rings, but don’t let them separate the three. Cas and Meg’s dying wish was for the three of us to be together that way, the only way we could, and it’s mine, too._

_You made an old man’s last years some of the best he’d ever had, Lizzie. I don’t know that there’s a way to say thank you enough for that._

_With all my love, your uncle Benny_

Lizzie went through the older letters, doing her best to keep her tears away from the old paper. The earliest were letters between Benny and Castiel, that sounded like letters any friends might have written each other. Then there was one where Benny broke down, confessed everything he felt for Castiel, and asked for a miracle – and Cas’s response granting it. After that, Benny always referred to Cas as “my Angel” in letters.

Later letters included some from Meg. She remembered her grandmother and various aunts and uncles referring to Meg as the demon. Reading the letters, she could understand why – Meg was blunt, and she’d have told the world to go fuck itself and let her be with both her men openly if they’d have let her. She didn’t have many memories of Meg herself, but one stood out. In the brief time after Cas’s death, Meg had pulled her up to the attic and passed on her philosophy of life. “I’ve been around a long time, Lizzie. If there’s one thing I hope you learn in this world, it’s that most of the stuff people tell you is bullshit. You find a cause, and you serve it. Give yourself over, and it orders your life. You don’t have to find it yet, but be thinking about it.”

For years, Lizzie’s cause has been school, and then taking care of Benny. She’d been a little scared when she came home from school one day during her sophomore year to tell Benny her plans for after graduation – she wanted to go into law, fighting for civil rights, particularly for LGBT rights. It’s not that she was afraid Benny had a problem with gays, but as a cause for her life? She understood Benny’s reaction so much better now.

Elizabeth took the rings from the box. The white ribbon was long enough for her to tie it around her neck, wearing the rings like a pendant. It would bring up the old family scandal, and she had no idea how her family would react. But she’d do this for her great-grandmother and great-grandfathers. Both of them.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments always welcome! This one's a little odd, I know.


End file.
